Shampoo doll

ABSTRACT

A doll whose arms move in a manner to simulate hair washing actions, while shampoolike foam is produced in its hair, comprising a hollow doll body with a pair of upwardly extending arms, the body having elastic walls so that when a child repeatedly squeezes the sides of the body together, the arms move up and down. The head is hollow and has numerous threads that extend through hole therein to form hair. As the elastic body is squeezed, air is pumped through the thread-holding holes, and if a soap solution has been spread on the hair, the air flowing through the holes creates foam in the hair.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Ronald A. Clark Rolling HillsEstates; Stephen Lewis, Pacific Palisades; John W. Ryan, Los Angeles;Wallace ll. Shapero, Torrance; Larry D. Workman, Fountain Valley, allof, Calil. 2| 1 Appl. No. 866,897 [22] Filed Oct. [6,1969 [45] PatentedJuly 6,1971 (73] Assignee Mattel, Inc.

Hawthorne, Calif. [54] SHAMPOO DOLL 6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs. 52 use! 46[5| 1 Int. Cl A631: 33/28 [50] Field of Search 46/6. 7, 44, l 15, l 17[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 741,360 l0/ 1 903 Moseley46/44 3,ll9,l98 1/1964 Ogata 46/ll7X Prim nry Exam iner Louis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-D. J. Weinhold AtrorneySeymour A. ScholnickABSTRACT: A doll whose arms move in a manner to simulate hair washingactions, while shampoolike foam is produced in its hair, comprising ahollow doll body with a pair of upwardly extending arms, the body havingelastic walls so that when a child repeatedly squeezes the sides of thebody together, the arms move up and down. The head is hollow and hasnumerous threads that extend through hole therein to form hair. As theelastic body is squeezed, air is pumped through the thread-holdingholes, and if a soap solution has been spread on the hair, the airflowing through the holes creates foam in the hair.

SHAMPOO DOLL BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention Thisinvention relates to dolls.

2. Description of the Prior Art The entertainment' value of dolls can beenhanced by constructing them to perform functions that simulatefunctions performed by the animals or persons they represent. However,the dolls must be constructed in as simple a manner as possible, sincethey generally must be sold at a low price and are subject to abuseswhich can cause complicated mechanisms to malfunction.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present inventionis to provide a simple doll I which simulates shampooing actions.

Another object is to provide a method for producing a check valve of atype suitable for a doll.

In accordance with the present invention, a simple doll is providedwhich is animated to simulate shampooing of the hair. In one embodimentof the invention, the doll has a hollow elastic body with arms that areraised toward the head, so that as the sides of the body are squeezedtogether and released the arms move up and down in a manner to simulateshampooing of the hair. The head is also hollow and has numerous threadsextending through holes thereon to simulate hair. When the doll body ispressed, air moves through the holes in the head through which thethreads extend, and blows onto the threads. If a soap solution is spreadon the threads, tiny soap bubbles are formed in the hair to enhance theshampooing animation.

The doll has a simple check valve which allows air to enter therethroughas the doll body expands, and which directs air through thethread'holding holes when the body is squeezed.

The check valve may be formed by mounting a valve core in thedoll-forming mold prior to inserting plastic into the mold. The valvecore has a narrow inner end and a larger outer end which ends in awedge. After the plastic of the molded doll solidifies, the core pin isremoved from the doll, the elastic walls expanding to allow it to'passout. Finally, a ball is inserted through the small hole left by theinner end of the core, into the larger cavity left by the outer end ofthe core.

The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity inthe appended claims. The invention will be best understood from thefollowing description when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a rear view, partially insection, of a shampoo doll constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 2-2 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a mold for forming the doll of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. I illustrates a shampoodoll with a body 10 that has a pair of upwardly extending arms l2, l4and a pair of legs 16, 13. A head 20 is mounted on the body, the headhaving numerous thread 22 (each of which may include many fibers)representing hair. The body 10 has thin elastic walls which form ahollow interior, so that the body can be squeezed. If the sides of thebody are squeezed to the position shown at 10A, the arms move down tothe position shown at 12A and MA. Since the arms extend substantially tothe head, their slight up and down movement simulates the hair-washingmovements of a person who is shampooing his hair. The head 20 is alsohollow, and contains numerous holes through which air can be pumped outagainst the threads of the hair. If a soapy solution is spread on thehair and the doll body is repeatedly squeezed and released, air ispumped into the head and through the holes therein against the soapysolution on the hair threads. This creates many fine shampoo bubbles inthe hair to enhance the shampooing animation. Thus, by merely spreadinga soapy solution on the hair and repeatedly squeezing the body, the dollis made to perform shampooing motions while shampoo bubbles form in thehair.

The threads 22 are anchored in the head by inserting them with a needlethrough the head and anchoring them in place within the head. Eachinsertion of the needle leaves a hole 2% which is of larger diameterthan the thread, if the thread were constricted to a minimum diameter.Accordingly, some air can flow through and around the thread to blowagainst a soapy solution thereon and create bubbles. The holes 24 areformed at a substantially uniform density so that no area of the headhas a high concentration of holes. It has been found that if a highconcentration of holes is provided, such as would occur along a hairparting line, most of the bubbles are formed along the area of high boleconcentration and very little over the rest of the hair area.Accordingly, a majority of the hair area should have threads at asubstantially uniform density, and the rest of the area should havethreads at a density substantially no greater than the density at themajority area. In the embodiment shown in the figures, the density issubstantially uniform over the entire hair area.

The body 10 has a hollow neck portion 26 which projects through a hole28 in the head. The neck portion has a recess which receives the wallsof hole 23 to anchor the head in place. When the head and neck areassembled, their hollow inner portions communicate with each other, topermit air to flow from the body into the head.

In order for air-pumping action to occur, a check valve is required toallow air to enter the body as the body expands and to block the flow ofair, except into the head, when the body is squeezed. A check valve 30is provided in one leg 16 of the doll to control the flow of air. Thecheck valve comprises walls forming a recess 32 and a ball-valve-closingmember 34 within the recess. As also shown in FIG. 2, air can enter therecess 32 through a passageway 36 that connects the recess to theoutside. The passageway 36 is of smaller diameter than the ball 34, toprevent the ball from falling out. The inner end of the passageway at 33forms a valve seat that can be covered by the ball 34 to close off thepassageway and prevent the outflow of air when the doll body is beingsqueezed. The inner end of the recess 32 has a hole 40 that connects therecess to the interior, or hollow inside, of the doll to allow air toflow into the doll body.

In order to prevent the ball 34 from blocking the inflow of air into thedoll body, the inner end portion of the recess 32 is formed into a wedgeshape. When the ball is drawn inwardly to position 34A as the doll bodyexpands, air can flow around the ball through the region 42 between theball and hole 40, and along the opposite edges of the: wedge-shapedportion. Thus, the ball allows the inflow of air through the leg whilepreventing the outflow of air through the leg.

The valve structure can be produced in a very simple manner during themolding of the doll body. As shown in FIG. 4, the doll body can beformed in a mold 44 which includes an outer member 46 and an innermember 48. The cavity between the inner and outer members defines thewalls of the doll body. A valve core 50 is provided for forming thevalve passageway and recess in the walls of the doll body. The valvecore has an inner end 52, of smaller cross section than the ball 34 andan outer portion 54 of larger cross section than the ball. The valvecore 50 is held in place within the mold cavity while a plastic materialwhich is elastic after the molding process is completed is injected intothe mold and around the valve core. After the plastic has set, the valvecore 50 is removed by simply pulling it out. The elasticity of thematerial allows the walls of the passageway 36 to expand sufficiently toallow for the removal of the core.

After the core is removed, a drill is fed through the I passageway andrecess to drill the hole 40 that connects the recess to the interior ofthe doll body. Finally, the ball-val'veclosing member 34 is insertedthrough the passageway 36into the recess 32. Again, the walls ofpassageway 36 can expand sufficiently to allow for the passage of thelarger ball 34 therethrough..'lhis construction method allows the valvebody to be formed integrally with the doll body, thereby enabling lowercost production. 7

in the course of rooting the threads 22 into the head, it has been foundthat, of the various sizes of needles which can be used, those of thesmaller range of diameters are preferable. Such needles leave arelatively small hole, but even this size hole is sufficient to allowfor the outflow of air to form bubbles. When larger sizes of needleshave been used, it was found that substantial amounts of air flowed backthrough the holes as the doll body expanded, so that foam tended to flowback into the head through the holes. if a larger check valve is used,so there is less, resistance to the inflow ofair into the doll body,through the valve, bubbles will not flow through even largethread-rooting holes in the head. However, small hair-rooting needlesshould beused for small valves.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described andillustrated herein. it is recognized that modifications and variationsmay readily occur to those skilled in the art and, consequently, it isintended that the claims be interpreted to cover such modifications andequivalents.

What we claim is:

l. A doll comprising:

a head having hair for receiving a liquid which can form bubbles; and

a body coupled to said head, said body having means for blowing airthrough said head at a region which has hair thereon, to form bubblesthereon.

2. The doll described in claim 2 wherein:

said hair comprises a plurality of threads; and

said head is hollow and has numerous holes for holding said threads,saidholesbeing larger than said threads to allow air to flow through theholes around the threads; and

said means'for blowing air comprises means for supplying pressurized airto the inside of the head.

3. The doll described in claim 2 wherein:

a majority area of said region which contains hair has hair threads at asubstantially uniform density thereon and the rest of said region hasthreads at a density substantially no greater than the density at saidmajority area, whereby to prevent a concentration of bubbles at one areato the exclusion of other areas.

4. The doll described in claim I wherein:

said body includes a pair of arms in at least a partially raisedposition; and

said means for blowing air through said head comprises a hollow elasticbody region located below said arms-for receiving squeezing forces,whereby to raise and lower the doll arms in simulation of hair washingwhile forming said bubbles. I

5. A doll comprising:

a hollow body with elastic walls; and

a hollow head attached to said body and communicating with it to receiveair from it, said head having hair for receiving a material which canform bubbles when air is blown into it and a plurality of holes forcarrying air from the inside of the head to the hair.

' 6. The doll described in claim 8 including:

a pair of arms attached to said body and extending in a generally upwarddirection toward the head, whereby the arms move in a manner to simulatehair scrubbing as the doll body is squeezed and released.

1. A doll comprising: a head having hair for receiving a liquid whichcan form bubbles; and a body coupled to said head, said body havingmeans for blowing air through said head at a region which has hairthereon, to form bubbles thereon.
 2. The doll described in claim 2wherein: said hair comprises a plurality of threads; and said head ishollow and has numerous holes for holding said threads, said holes beinglarger than said threads to allow air to flow through the holes aroundthe threads; and said means for blowing air comprises means forsupplying pressurized air to the inside of the head.
 3. The dolldescribed in claim 2 wherein: a majority area of said region whichcontains hair has hair threads at a substantially uniform densitythereon and the rest of said region has threads at a densitysubstantially no greater than the density at said majority area, wherebyto prevent a concentration of bubbles at one area to the exclusion ofother areas.
 4. The doll described in claim 1 wherein: said bodyincludes a pair of arms in at least a partially raised position; andsaid means for blowing air through said head comprises a hollow elasticbody region located below said arms for receiving squeezing forces,whereby to raise and lower the doll arms in simulation of hair washingwhile forming said bubbles.
 5. A doll comprising: a hollow body withelastic walls; and a hollow head attached to said body and communicatingwith it to receive air from it, said head having hair for receiving amaterial which can form bubbles when air is blown into it and aplurality of holes for carrying air from the inside of the head to thehair.
 6. The doll described in claim 8 including: a pair of armsattached to said body and extending in a generally upward directiontoward the head, whereby the arms move in a manner to simulate hairscrubbing as the doll body is squeezed and released.